Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Dutch and Chinese governments and the computer system can be user updated as new information about a fire
becomes available (Vekerdy et al., 1999).
Once the various forms of technology are used to locate the greatest intensity of an underground fire, firefighters
either inject a water
mud slurry into cracks created by subsurface burning or drill a series of holes into under-
ground shafts, drifts, and slopes and pump in the slurry to smolder the flames. The surface is then covered with
thousands of tons of soil to prevent oxygen from circulating back into the ground and rekindling the fire (Discover,
1999, Wingfield-Hayes, 2000). Surface fires are extinguished by burying burning coal under a 1m layer of soil
(Discover, 1999) or by removing the coal and carrying it away by truck to an area in which it is flooded with water
or community sewage (Vekerdy, 1999). Extinguishing all such fires, however, is cost prohibitive, and fires not
likely to spread to nearby coal seams are sometimes allowed to burn (Prakash, 2003).
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Atmospheric pollution in China, primarily from coal combustion, is among the highest in the world (Johnson et al.,
1997). Acid rain from SO
2
and NO is a problem in 88 major Chinese cities and the problem has spilled over into
Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines (World Resources Institute (WRI), 1999, pp. 63
67; United Nations
Development Program, 2000). The economic loss from burning coal resources in China alone is estimated to be as
high as $125
-
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250 million (the United States) (Prakash, 2003). These problems are compounded by a rise in lung
cancer, bronchitis, stroke, pulmonary heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China linked to
coal gas and particulate emissions and, in some cases, directly linked to coal emissions from indoor cooking and
heating (Johnson et al., 1997, p. 19; WRI, 1999, pp. 63
67). In Guizhou Province alone, over 10 million people
have contracted arsenosis and fluorosis from eating foods such as corn and chili peppers dried over coal-burning
stoves (Finkelman et al., 1999, 2001, 2002).
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Pennsylvania, USA
Coal mining in Pennsylvania began in the mid-1700s in response to colonial America
s demand for iron. Since
then, Pennsylvania coal has supplied energy to the United States and countries abroad. This includes 60% of the
fuel used to generate the state
'
s electricity (PDEP, 2001b). Although Pennsylvania ranks fourth at 6.7% of US coal
production after Wyoming, West Virginia, and Kentucky, more than a third of the abandoned mine-related
problems in the United States occur in Pennsylvania and coal fires are among the worst such problems (Piposzar
and Jones, 2000; PDEP, 2001b). Coal fires in Pennsylvania have been recorded since 1772 (Glover, 1998) but the
first major fire occurred in 1869 when a ventilating furnace ignited wooden supports in the Avondale mine in
Plymouth (Figure 6.1.2), suffocating 110 men trapped below ground. Fortunately, the fire self-extinguished about a
year after attempts to put it out with water failed (Roy, 1876, pp. 134
'
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137). Since the Avondale catastrophe, coal
Pennsylvania coal fires
N
Avondale (1869)
Centralia
Percy mine
Underground fire
+ Surface refuse fire
0
90 km
Figure 6.1.2. Coal fires across Pennsylvania: state counties are outlined. Centralia, Percy, and Avondale mine fires
of Columbia, Fayette, and Montgomery counties, respectively, are illustrated. Anthracite reserves are concentrated
in the east and bituminous reserves in the southwest. Figure courtesy of Michael Klimkos PDEP, 2001c, with
modifications.
